An aircraft flying through the atmosphere is continually subject to wind effects. It is well known to utilize wind effects to measure aircraft speed, such as the well-known Pitot tube. The Pitot tube is mounted on the aircraft body to measure the total pressure and static pressure of the air. The airspeed is calculated from the impact pressure, which is the difference between the total pressure and static pressure of the air. However, the Pitot tube has disadvantages. They need a costly calibration procedure to each airframe. They protrude from the aircraft body, which is undesirable in some situations, particularly for the military. Air flow measured by the Pitot tube is in the direction of travel alone and does not take into account three-dimensional wind turbulence.
Systems are known for obtaining wind speed information in front of an aircraft and the airspeed of the aircraft by using a LIDAR (laser imaging and detection and ranging) anemometer mounted on the aircraft.